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Category: Law/Crime

Rupert Murdoch, legally exposed

Rupert Murdoch, legally exposed

Judd Legum writes: It’s not a secret that Fox News is a political operation seeking to bolster the prospects of Republicans. Jeanne Pirro, co-host of Fox News’ The Five, regularly appears at Republican fundraisers. Mark Levin, who hosts a weekly Fox News program, appeared at a rally and fundraiser for a Republican candidate in Virginia. Sean Hannity, one of Fox News’ primetime stars, stumped for President Trump. Alternatively, just watch Fox News for a few minutes — the purpose is clear. At the same time, Fox…

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Dark money and special deals: How Leonard Leo and his friends benefited from his judicial activism

Dark money and special deals: How Leonard Leo and his friends benefited from his judicial activism

Politico reports: A network of political non-profits formed by judicial activist Leonard Leo moved at least $43 million to a new firm he is leading, raising questions about how his conservative legal movement is funded. Leo’s own personal wealth appeared to have ballooned as his fundraising prowess accelerated since his efforts to cement the Supreme Court’s conservative majority helped to bring about its decision to overturn abortion rights. Most recently, Leo reaped a $1.6 billion windfall from a single donor…

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Solar geoengineering should be regulated, UN report says

Solar geoengineering should be regulated, UN report says

E&E News reports: A panel of climate experts convened by the United Nations is calling for international regulations to extend into the stratosphere. The recommendation — detailed in a report released Monday — could help manage the risks associated with spraying sunlight-reflecting aerosols dozens of miles above the Earth’s surface. Such stratospheric aerosol injection is largely untested and potentially harmful, but it’s attracting attention as an emergency measure to avoid catastrophic climate change. “This group unanimously suggests [stratospheric aerosol injection]…

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Murdoch acknowledges Fox News hosts endorsed election fraud falsehoods

Murdoch acknowledges Fox News hosts endorsed election fraud falsehoods

The New York Times reports: Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the conservative media empire that owns Fox News, acknowledged in a deposition that several hosts for his networks promoted the false narrative that the election in 2020 was stolen from former President Donald J. Trump, court documents released on Monday showed. “They endorsed,” Mr. Murdoch said under oath in response to direct questions about the hosts Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo, a legal filing by Dominion Voting…

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Alone and exploited, migrant children work brutal jobs across the U.S.

Alone and exploited, migrant children work brutal jobs across the U.S.

The New York Times reports: It was almost midnight in Grand Rapids, Mich., but inside the factory everything was bright. A conveyor belt carried bags of Cheerios past a cluster of young workers. One was 15-year-old Carolina Yoc, who came to the United States on her own last year to live with a relative she had never met. About every 10 seconds, she stuffed a sealed plastic bag of cereal into a passing yellow carton. It could be dangerous work,…

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White supremacists behind over 80% of extremism-related U.S. murders in 2022

White supremacists behind over 80% of extremism-related U.S. murders in 2022

Reuters reports: Mass shootings in the United States accounted for most extremism-related fatalities last year in the country with over 80% of those murders committed by white supremacists, data released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) showed on Thursday. The advocacy group labeled 25 murders in 2022 as “extremist-related,” with 18 of those “committed in whole or part for ideological motives.” Two mass shootings – one in May in Buffalo, New York, wherein an avowed white supremacist fatally shot 10 Black…

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The invisible victims of American antisemitism

The invisible victims of American antisemitism

Yair Rosenberg writes: Last week, a gunman shot two Jews at close range as they departed morning prayer services in Los Angeles. The first victim was shot in the back on Wednesday. The second was shot multiple times in the arm on Thursday, less than 24 hours later. The attacks sent fear pulsing through the Jewish community of Los Angeles, as members wondered if their own place of worship would be targeted next. On Thursday evening, the alleged assailant was…

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Emily Kohrs’ much criticized media tour may have no legal consequences in Georgia court

Emily Kohrs’ much criticized media tour may have no legal consequences in Georgia court

The New York Times reports: Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump said late Wednesday that details divulged this week by the forewoman of a special grand jury investigating election interference by Mr. Trump and his allies had “poisoned” the Georgia inquiry. As of Thursday morning, however, the two lawyers had not filed any motions in court challenging the inquiry. Nor would they discuss what form such a challenge might take, saying only that they were weighing their options. “We’re…

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Press freedom in the crosshairs as DeSantis widens his assault on an open society

Press freedom in the crosshairs as DeSantis widens his assault on an open society

Politico reports: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ broken relationship with the mainstream media could get even worse. At the governor’s urging, Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature is pushing to weaken state laws that have long protected journalists against defamation suits and frivolous lawsuits. The proposal is part DeSantis’ ongoing feud with media outlets like The New York Times, Miami Herald, CNN and The Washington Post — media companies he claims are biased against Republicans — as he prepares for a likely 2024 presidential…

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Jury in Georgia Trump inquiry recommended multiple indictments, forewoman says

Jury in Georgia Trump inquiry recommended multiple indictments, forewoman says

The New York Times reports: A special grand jury that investigated election interference by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies in Georgia recommended indictments of multiple people on a range of charges in its report, most of which remains sealed, the forewoman of the jury said in an interview today. “It is not a short list,” the forewoman, Emily Kohrs, said, adding that the jury had appended eight pages of legal code “that we cited at various points…

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As the pandemic swept America, deaths in prisons rose nearly 50 percent

As the pandemic swept America, deaths in prisons rose nearly 50 percent

The New York Times reports: Deaths in state and federal prisons across America rose nearly 50 percent during the first year of the pandemic, and in six states they more than doubled, according to the first comprehensive data on prison fatalities in the era of Covid-19. The tremendous jump in deaths in 2020 was more than twice the increase in the United States overall, and even exceeded estimates of the percentage increase at nursing homes, among the hardest-hit sectors nationwide….

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U.S. formally accuses Russia of crimes against humanity in Ukraine, Harris says

U.S. formally accuses Russia of crimes against humanity in Ukraine, Harris says

Politico reports: The United States has determined that Russia is committing crimes against humanity in Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris announced Saturday, the latest salvo in the West’s effort to hold Moscow accountable for its wartime atrocities. In a marquee address at the Munich Security Conference, Harris detailed that Russia is responsible for a “widespread and systematic attack” against Ukraine’s civilian population, citing evidence of execution-style killings, rape, torture and forceful deportations — sometimes perpetrated against children. As a result,…

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Trump leaked classified Russia papers to conservative journalist

Trump leaked classified Russia papers to conservative journalist

Murray Waas reports: In the closing days of his presidency— as President Donald J. Trump was preparing to declassify and make public almost a thousand pages of highly classified records pertaining to the FBI investigation into Russia’s covert interference in the 2016 presidential election to help elect him, and defeat Hillary Clinton — he turned to conservative columnist John Solomon for help. On Jan 14, 2021, less than a week before Trump was to leave office, Solomon excitedly declared on…

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GOP operative sentenced to 18 months for funneling Russian money to Trump campaign

GOP operative sentenced to 18 months for funneling Russian money to Trump campaign

Mother Jones reports: On Friday, a federal judge in Washington, DC sentenced a veteran GOP operative to 18 months in prison for funneling $25,000 from a Russian businessman to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Jesse Benton, a longtime aide to both Ron and Rand Paul, was convicted in November on six related charges. The court found that he and another GOP operative accepted $100,000 from Roman Vasilenko, a St. Petersburg-based influencer who wanted photos with Trump to display on his social…

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One more sign that Special Counsel Jack Smith is deadly serious

One more sign that Special Counsel Jack Smith is deadly serious

Dennis Aftergut writes: This weekend brought the strange news that Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Donald Trump, asked the grand jury to issue a subpoena to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago office for an empty folder. Why? The Guardian reports that last month, Smith subpoenaed the folder, marked “Classified Evening Briefing,” even though Trump’s lawyers told him it had nothing in it. This tells us something important: that Smith is serious about pressing forward with a case against Trump for his 18 months of obstructing government efforts to…

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Constitutional originalism is going to get women killed

Constitutional originalism is going to get women killed

Madiba Dennie writes: American law has not historically been good to women, and whatever progress there once was is now vulnerable to regression. This return is being midwifed into the world by the theory of constitutional interpretation known as originalism—the idea that a law’s constitutionality today is dependent on the Constitution’s purported “original public meaning” when the relevant constitutional text was enacted. Its adherents market originalism as fair and free from favor or prejudice—but its effects are not and will not be…

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